Mapletown graduate earns scholarship
The Darlene Phillips Memorial Scholarship was awarded last month to Marissa Wrick, a Mapletown High School.
Wrick received a $1,000 scholarship award to attend California University of Pennsylvania, where she will major a physical therapist assistant. Kathy Saesan, a board member of Community Foundation of Greene County, and Dave Phillips, the scholarship’s donor, presented the award to Wrick at the Mapletown High School awards program.
Wrick is the daughter of John and Rhonda Wrick of Dilliner.
The Darlene Phillips Elementary Education Scholarship Fund was established by Darlene’s husband, Dave Phillips, and her family to preserve Darlene’s memory and the many children whose lives she touched.
It provides a $1,000 scholarship to a senior student at Mapletown High School, with first preference for students intending to purse a bachelor’s degree in the field of elementary education. However, students with other majors will be considered if no elementary or secondary education majors apply.
Darlene Phillips was teaching at Bobtown Elementary School at the time of her death. She had previously taught for Building Blocks Nursery School and Monongalia County schools. A graduate of Carmichaels Area High School, she received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from California University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree at West Virginia University. She also attended the University of Pittsburgh, where she obtained her principal papers and was working on a doctorate of education degree.
Darlene Phillips, the daughter of Merle and Pearl Shaffer, was married to David (Cecil) Phillips for 14 years and had one son, Garrett, whom she spent a lot of time teaching about history, the importance of a good education, studying and doing your best. In addition to her husband and son, she had three brothers and a sister with whom she was very close.
To apply for the scholarship, students must be a graduating from Mapletown High School and have at least one full year of instruction received at a Southeastern Greene School District elementary school. The student must be accepted as a full time freshman student for the 2012-13 academic year at an accredited four-year college or university and must have a cumulative 3.0 grade-point average during the last four years of schooling, have participated in extracurricular activities, and have a strong attendance record during high school with no compulsory attendance violations.
The award is one of more than 55 permanent and restricted funds held by the Community Foundation of Greene County, a nonprofit charitable organization. For more information about the scholarship or CFGC, please call at 724-627-2010, email cfgcpa@gmail.com, or visit the website at www.cfgcpa.org.